2012 Readers' Choice: Outsourcing

Unlike last year, not much has changed on the Outsourcing list, perhaps indicating that recent moves from outsourcing providers, like improving industry focus, have resonated with CG companies. What Simon Ellis, practice director, Supply Chain Strategies for IDC Manufacturing Insights, found most interesting this year was Deloitte’s movement up three slots to No. 5. Along with its customer experience win, this presents proof that if you connect with the customer, good things will happen.

 

Ellis: Outsourcing is increasingly accepted across all facets of a manufacturer’s operations — from warehousing to the help desk and procurement. It is nearly a given that a manufacturer — especially one that plays in a global market space with an ever increasingly complex supply chain — can’t manage all of its operations internally. However, one particular trend of note is that of “organic collaboration”, which is occurring because of outsourcing. Manufacturers are moving into emerging regions and need to be able to share information with a growing number of constituents across its supply chain. The proliferation of social business has also accelerated the pace of “organic collaboration” via outsourcing, allowing manufacturers to more easily coordinate with suppliers and even customers.

 

Ellis: The trend may be explained partly by the generally lower level of global complexity experienced by smaller manufacturers. Also, I think different outsourcing providers bring different capabilities to the table. Aligning yourself with a single partner isn’t always realistic because you may have specific human resources or payroll needs from one outsourcer and completely different needs such as a warehouse during seasonal times from a different outsourcer. Similar to other enterprise systems, it is best to work with a few outsourcers that bring strength to the business areas you need.

 

 

The Deloitte applications management model goes well beyond cost and scale. Its full life-cycle outsourcing delivery model is based on an innovative and value-driven approach to application support services, which provides a great vehicle for enabling business results.

 

 

Accenture is dedicated to using advanced outsourcing capabilities and services to help consumer goods and services companies become high-performance businesses — organizations that consistently exceed their peers by quantifiable standards, outperforming them across economic cycles as well as new generations of leadership.